Posts Tagged ‘Fitness’

If I had to say what the biggest difference in the way I trained a year ago and the way i train now is, the difference would be bullheadedness.

To clarify, a year or two ago, I trained under the assumption that, because I’d read a couple of books, I knew all I needed to know. Not just the knowledge to get strong, but I was so smart I was going to reach my natural genetic potential. I’d see people doing exercises in the gym (exercises that I either didn’t like or wasn’t familiar with) and say, “Well, those might work for them, but I’m way different; I don’t need to [insert exercise here].” It was an ego boost to feel like I was doing the master-supremo-maximus workout and know that I had all the secrets to lifting heavy. Right up until someone would come in and hoist Pumping Iron-heavy weight and I’d be like, “Oh I’ll get there eventually.”

I think you really have to have someone come in and shock you with how much better they are than you for you to really give an honest assessment of where your mind and body are at.

You really have to get rid of the, “That works for them, but it won’t work for me, I’ll keep doing this,” mindset. I’d really been cheating myself every time I’d see someone come in and throw a couple hundo up and think to myself, “I’ll keep doing what I’m doing to get there,” as opposed to, “What the hell is this guy doing.”

Three people I’ve seen in my gym really come to mind (really because I’ve been able to watch what they do). These are really strong guys.

Two are essentially the grand masters of front and back squats, respectively. I’d come in and see them put 405 on the bar and push some reps and immediately think, “I hate squats, I am not good at squats.” Eventually, you reach a point where you have an internal dialogue that goes something like this:

>I want to squat big

>Okay, then do squats

>B-but I don’t like squats and they hurt

>Then stop lifting, nobody likes a guy that skips leg day

I think it’s a humbling moment to have made legitimate progress, but realize that what’s been holding you back is your lack of cojones.

For the longest time, my chest lagged behind everything else I did. It still does, but lets tell ourselves I’ve made progress. I got away with telling myself and others that I’d dislocated my shoulder (sophmore year of highschool) and couldn’t [read: didn’t want to] bench. Then I started to bench and eventually was just doing 3×6 bench every time I worked upper body, expecting to see results.

Enter the third guy.

Picture in your mind the physical manifestation of the words “human tank.” Chances are you have pictured him correctly: the widest set of shoulders I’ve ever seen and a gigantic chest. I’d come in and whenever I’d see him, the heaviest weights on the dumbbell racks would all be missing. About ten feet from the racks were 100, 110, and 120 lb dumbbells strewn about. Nicest guy you’ll ever meet, but an absolute beast. By then I’d had my epiphany: I was going to steal this guy’s chest routine.

I really don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing someone else’s routine. In fact, you shouldn’t feel bad about it. It’s an homage. Seeing someone with a great chest or great legs and notsaying, “I need to do what he’s doing,” is what wasted so much of my time.

Two things: muscular hypertrophy and low bodyfat percentage. It’s as simple as that. How does it work so simply? Think about it – the “abs” are just a muscle, and like every muscle there are only two things you can do to alter its appearance: induce hypertrophy and make it bigger or reduce the layer of fat that rests on top of the muscle.

These same principles apply to the Rectus Abdominus (the abs).

People will tell you all kinds of things like:

You need to do sit-ups. Like a lot of them, upwards of 50 reps. Over and over again.

You should be eating berries or “X” food, as these foods or magic objects will help “spot reduce” abdominal fat.

You need to work your obliques a lot, as these muscles will make your six-pack “pop”

“X” thing can be used in “Y” way to “melt” fat off your abdominal muscles/activate abdominal muscles more/push abdominals through

Everything listed above is utter bullshit. I’ll go into the reasons why spot reduction is a myth in another post, but trust me – it is a lie. More important is hypertrophy of the rectus muscles: 50+ reps will not make the muscle grow and it will not spot-reduce fat. All that it’ll due is put stress on your lumbar spine. Any exercises I mention you should do slow enough that the 6-8 reps that you will do burn and are a challenge near the end. We need to stress your muscles to the point that they increase in size. That’s how the most impressive abs are built.

To get a beautiful six-pack, all that is required is a little extra effort, conscientiousness about your habits, and about 7 extra minutes on your routine, explained here:

1. Don’t neglect squats and deadlifts:

The squat and the deadlift are integral to core strength and building your core as a whole. I put this first because there’s really no point in having six-pack abs if you’re just going to hurt yourself by having a weak back or intercostals. Essential to the squat and deadlift both is the concept of a respiratory “block.” You do this by inhaling and contracting your intercostal, oblique, and rectus abdominus muscles to build a stable “block” that keeps the spine in isolation from the rest of the exercise. The abdominals are held in isometric contraction agains the respiratory block you’ve created the whole time you’re even 1% into the squat: thus the squat is an excellent core exercise in addition to being a leg exercise.

2. Do ab rollouts

The ab rollout is an excellent exercise. I do them with my knees on a bench, making sure I focus on the abdominal contraction (they’re also excellent for your serratus muscles). Essentially you just take a barbell or an ab wheel and… roll it out, go out to arms about parallel to your body (no farther, as this can be injurious to your rotator cuff). They’re all I currently do.

3. Leg raises

Self explanatory: do them. they hit the lower abs in a way that the rollouts do not.

It sucks, but nothing happens overnight. especially for me, I had to build muscle before I lost fat, and even then, it was hard to keep off. In my experience, you’ll hit a breaking point where you’re finally comfortable or competent enough to really turn your 80% up to 110% and really see results. Keep going and be real with yourself about the level of effort you’re applying and I promise you’ll eventually look the way you want. Determination is insurmountable.